ЮГ Times. Konstantin Turshu, President of the Association of Tea-Growers of the Krasnodar region, speaks about forged tea brands, problems and achievements of the regional tea-growing industry, and why it is necessary to adopt a regional law on tea growing.
“We are actively studying the experience of tea-growers throughout the world, and I can say that the technologies we currently apply in Sochi are the world’s best achievements. I can assert that tea from, say, Matsesta plantations is of premium quality. This fact has been proved by numerous studies and by most authoritative experts.”
Q.: Experts are known to be saying that the world’s best tea comes from Japan. How would you compare taste qualities of Japanese and Kuban-grown tea-leaves?
A.: I would like to tell you about one visit of Japanese tea experts to Sochi. When they came to Matsesta, they were delighted with the fact that the local landscape reminded them their native sceneries. They took samples of our tea leaves back to Japan for laboratory analysis. And it appeared that Krasnodar tea exceeded in quality similar Japanese tea considered the best in the world.
Krasnodar tea is considered the northernmost tea in the world. The varieties that took root in Sochi underwent natural selection. I amd confident that Sochi tea is the most useful tea [in the world], for our leaves live a long vegetative period because of the winter colds, and they have enough time to accumulate lots of essential oils and anti-oxidants.
Q.: What is the mission of the regional Association of Tea-Growers?
A.: Our decision to associate was caused first of all by the fact that all scientific research institutes had become commercial companies engaged in rendering services for very good money – because they have quite little work to do. Our tea-growing farms are small or midsize businesses, and we always try to minimize our expenditures. That is why members of our Association decided to refuse from services rendered by scholars and to start exchanging our own experience, technologies and cultures.
Q.: One of the latest achievements of the Association was adoption of the law on tea-growing in first reading. Could you tell us about this law in more detail?
A.: The draft law was actively discussed by tea-growers. As a result, one of the federal MPs introduced a regional bill whose aim was to restore Krasnodar Tea as a brand and to preserve our farms.
If this law on tea-growing would be finally adopted, as the regional authorities are promising us, I am confident that we will be able to advance both in quality and in quantity. The regional Ministry of Agriculture has promised to subsidize the cost of new tea plantations.
Q.: Is contrafact a real problem for the industry?
A.: When preparing the draft law, the deputies of the regional Legislative Assembly bought specimens of tea that allegedly (as it was written on the labels) was grown in the Krasnodar region for independent expert appraisal. The result was depressing: 90% of what was labeled as ‘Krasnodar tea’ was a forged product.
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